The soft x-ray materials research (SXR) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source

The soft x-ray materials science research (SXR) instrument completed commissioning in June 2010 and began experimental user operations shortly afterwards. This instrument delivers intense, ultra-short soft x-ray pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source, the free-electron laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. These are fully coherent and can contain up to $10^{13}$ photons per pulse (or about 3 mJ per pulse) with bunch lengths from 300 femtoseconds down to sub-10 femtoseconds. The instrument includes a monochromator whose energy range spans energies from 480 eV - 2000 eV and a Kirkpatrick-Baez mirror system to create a focal spot of a few microns in diameter. The SXR instrument has a diverse set of end stations available to conduct a large variety of experimental techniques such as coherent imaging, resonant x-ray diffraction, photoelectron spectroscopy, and x-ray emission and/or absorption. First studies include fields spanning liquid femtosecond chemistry and time-resolved resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to ordering in solids and ultrafast magnetization. An overview of the instrument and its capabilities will be given.